Hempstead's tough Holloway sparks Xavier

Eleven-year-old Terrell "Tu" Holloway was already coming home with money in his pockets, spoils from contests against older guys at the parks around Hempstead. One-on-ones. Foul- shooting competitions. Best jump hook. The pickup games often ended in fights, and Holloway quickly learned how to stick up for himself.

Some days, Holloway and his father combined in four-on-four halfcourt ball. The middle schooler, small for his age, took on adults. But whatever happened, the elder Terrell Holloway told Tu, he could call no fouls. No crying. If he got hit, he had to get back up. Basketball was a grown man's sport, and Holloway had to understand that if he wanted to play.

Ten years later, the 6-foot Xavier point guard and Atlantic 10 Player of the Year is one of only three players in the NCAA this season to average at least 20 points (20.2) and five rebounds (5.1) a game. As Holloway, a junior, leads Xavier (24-7) into its sixth straight NCAA Tournament and a first-round game against Marquette Friday in Cleveland, the toughness and poise he learned in the parks are two of his biggest strengths.

"It's just a different feeling, playing in New York. That's the reason why honestly, I have more fun in the parks than I do in college," Holloway said. "There's no refs. You don't have to worry about your coach yelling at you, running plays. Any chance I get to go home, I play."

Facing older players helped Holloway excel among those his own age. While playing AAU ball for the Long Island Lightning and New York Gauchos, he shared the backcourt with Villanova's Corey Fisher and played ahead of UConn's Kemba Walker.

But as colleges started taking interest, Holloway found himself in academic limbo, switching high schools four times in three years. In a last-chance effort to qualify for a Division 1 scholarship, he moved 660 miles to attend Harmony Community Prep in Cincinnati. Holloway committed to Indiana that year, but after coach Kelvin Sampson resigned, he signed with the team a few miles from his new home.

His freshman year at Xavier was disappointing, and he was determined to make up for it in the offseason. Between his freshman and sophomore years, he took 20,000 jump shots. The next summer, he shot 28,000.

"Tu lived in the gym," Xavier assistant coach and former Gauchos coach Rasheen Davis said. "I'd come in the morning, he's there. I'd leave in the afternoon, he's there. I'd text him at night, he'd text me back, 'I'm in the gym, call you later.' "

Holloway had always been known as Tu in the parks and Terrell in the gym, but after seeing names such as Syracuse's Scoop Jardine and Baylor's Tweety Carter on television, he decided he wanted his childhood nickname to be official. Xavier coach Chris Mack told Holloway he had to earn the privilege. After a much-improved sophomore season, capped by 26 points in a double-overtime NCAA loss to Kansas State, he had.

And going into the tournament, Holloway's refusal to back down -- which started on the Hempstead asphalt -- will be critical to Xavier's success.

"I can honestly say he's always been a tough, fierce competitor with the typical New York guard attitude," Davis said. "He's the type of kid who could will you to victory in a game where you really shouldn't win."